Windows 10 Raspberry Pi 2+: UC Merced Graduate Students talk about their experience!
If you are getting started with IOT, check out the Microsoft Virtual Academy at:
If you want to read about students doing great things read the following!
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Dateline: May 2, 2015 Location: UC Merced
Daniel Winkler and Alex Beltran accomplished a first today: Using a Raspberry Pi 2+ with Windows 10 in a University Hackathon! These two pioneering PhD students who took on the challenge of getting the newly released Windows 10 on a Raspberry Pi 2+ is pretty amazing considering that the operating system was just released the Day before. This is the kind of people who take on the big challenges that US corporations need to recruit NOW. They speak honestly and demonstrate that they are good researchers as well.
Here is what they had to say about the event and how they used the Windows 10 on the Raspberry Pi 2+, without editing or changes. They write with a boldness that I appreciate, and they point problems that they encountered with the set-up. And they didn’t hold anything back, something I truly appreciate. This is the kind of feedback we appreciate inside of Microsoft, maybe not enjoy, but certainly appreciate.
So here is what they found:
**************Daniel Winkler and Alex Beltran wrote the following, no changes made by me*****************
Technology is moving closer to us all. This can be seen in the acceptance of wearable devices (fitbit, iWatch) and systems embedded in our surrounding environment (Nest, WeMo). As this movement has grown, it has become commonly known as the Internet of Things, or IoT, and has generated a huge following. We are PhD students at the University of California, Merced in the ANDES Lab research group, which strives to find innovative ways to use embedded systems and wireless sensor networks to improve quality of life.
We recently had the pleasure of welcoming Microsoft evangelist Sam Stokes to our University as an opportunity to bring Microsoft technology closer to the student body. As luck would have it, this visit took place just days after the release of Microsoft's Windows 10 for IoT, said to be compatible with a handful of embedded devices, including the recently released Raspberry Pi 2. Due to our familiarity with embedded devices, we decided to take a shot getting the two to work together, following the instructions provided by Microsoft.
https://ms-iot.github.io/content/GetStarted.htm
These steps guided us through the download of the Windows 10 IoT .iso file, correct installation on a compatible memory card, and the first-time setup process on the raspberry pi 2. Although the steps brought us successfully to a working version of Windows 10 IoT, there are some things we hope to see addressed in the future. For example, the instructions noted that you must have a Windows 10 machine to perform the installation steps for Windows 10 IoT. This additional requirement seems like a nuisance, especially in a research lab that does not primarily use Windows, like ours. Additionally, we found that the first-time setup will not complete if the machine is not connected to ethernet. It is understandable that the embedded device may need a connection to perform its tasks once configured and running, but it was not understood why it was necessary at first-time setup. Lastly, the first-time setup could be greatly improved by showing the user information about the progress of the current task, or even just a spinning wheel, letting the user know that the machine is still working properly. The instructions tell you to expect a wait of ~6 minutes while it goes through a series of reboots and screens with static information, but our experience took closer to 20 minutes. At each step in the process, the inclusion of some dynamic status messages would be well-appreciated. As a fully-functional debian distribution is available for the raspberry pi 2, Windows 10 IoT must improve to provide comparable features.
The possibility to run Windows 10 on an embedded device is very exciting. Although steps could be taken to make the process more accessible, we look forward to seeing what exciting applications will be developed on Windows 10 IoT in the future.
*********************** Daniel Winkler and Alex Beltran wrote the material above *****************
Well, except for the last line, which states: “we look forward to seeing what exciting applications will be developed on Windows 10 IoT in the future“, I hope that they will consider using Window 10 to develop some of those exciting applications.
Comments
Anonymous
May 08, 2015
Agree on the point that it is a nuisance to require Windows 10 on a laptop to setup Windows 10 on a Raspberry Pi. At a Maker Faire, I shared this requirement with a couple of makers and they all responded they will not test Win 10 on RPi2. I also followed the steps from Github to setup the RPi. I was also annoyed that you can't develop for the Raspberry unless you have Windows 10 on a separate computer. With Debian, I can be running any OS (Win7, Mac OS) and still get my RPi up and running easily. Lastly, it would be nice if there was more software available for the RPi on first bootup, so that we can see some more features.Anonymous
May 08, 2015
Martin, Agree with you, except for not running Windows 10 on the Raspberry Pi. It is a nuisance, somewhat. But what about the return? Seriously, Microsoft is going to have 1 billion Windows 10 devices running. This is a well written comment, and one that needs to be reviewed by others wiser in the way of Embedded Windows 10 than me. What I would like to see is a version of Windows 10 O/S that I can run on the Raspberry Pi and download TouchDevelop apps onto my Raspberry Pi. Not develop them, but to run them. And I would like to use Visual Studio Code on the Raspberry Pi. Also could I use the Raspberry Pi to act as dumb terminal? Which I totally could, if I use MineCraft on Azure! So use what you will on the Raspberry Pi, I would just ask that you give Win 10 on Raspberry Pi a chance. And then we can all sing by the campfire and tell tales of times past! Let's see what else? How about a smart doorbell, the doorbell would transmit your picture to an API, store the information cheaply and then store your picture using Blob storage. The doorbell would then transmit a notification to your phone. The doorbell would also manage it's power consumption and overall circuit health, local calibrated environmental values would also be stored. This can be done using Steven Edouard's Smart Doorbell: http://bit.ly/stevenedouard , the smart doorbell is somewhere on the site. Do you need Windows 10? Nope. Do you need Azure? Nope. Do you need to be creative and fast? Yep. Use what's fast and easy to maintain long term, cumulative earnings is what is required in today's world.Anonymous
May 10, 2015
Yes, the Windows 10 requirement does seem to a valid issue with people used to the Noobs or similar installation. Let's face it, the Noobs installation is just simple. Bear in mind that the Windows 10 at this time is just for device driver development. Which is a phrase you can take in many ways. My question is this: Can I build a Windows 10 image for Raspberry Pi that ignores the Windows 10 on a tablet, laptop, etc.? What are your thoughts on this?